Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place de l'Étoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It is the linchpin of the historic axis (L'Axe historique) leading from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route leading out of Paris. The monument's iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail and set the tone for public monuments with triumphant nationalistic messages until World War I.

Related Topics:
Paris - Place de l'Étoile - Champs-Élysées - Axe historique - Louvre - World War I

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The monument stands over 50 metres (165 feet) in height and is 45 metres wide. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence (North Korea built a slightly larger Arch of Triumph in 1982 for the 70th birthday of Kim Il-Sung); the Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that an early daredevil flew his plane through it.

Related Topics:
50 metres - Triumphal arch - North Korea - 1982 - Kim Il-Sung

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It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Napoleon Bonaparte at the peak of his fortunes and finally completed — after a long pause during the Restoration — in the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833-36. The sculpture representing Peace was now interpreted as commemorating the Peace of 1815 — not the original intention.

Related Topics:
1806 - Austerlitz - Napoleon Bonaparte - Restoration - King Louis-Philippe

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The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin (1739-1811), in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture. Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Cortot, Rude, Étex, Pradier and Lemaire. The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliqués on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (Jean-Pierre Cortot), Resistance and Peace (both by Antoine Étex) and the most renowned of them all, Departure of the Volunteers of '92 commonly called La Marseillaise (François Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the seven-star rank of Marshal of France.

Related Topics:
Jean Chalgrin - Neoclassical - Roman architecture - Academic - Cortot - Rude - Étex - Pradier - Lemaire - La Marseillaise - Marshal

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In the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved with the names of major Revolutionary and Napoleonic military victories. The inside walls of the monument list the names of 558 French generals. The names of those who died in battle are underlined (illustration, right).

Related Topics:
Frieze - Revolutionary - Napoleonic military victories

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The Place de l'Étoile was extensively redesigned by Baron Haussmann, who increased the number of avenues radiating from this star to twelve. In the 1860s he ran a circular road (rue de Tilsitt-Presbourg) round the outside of the houses fronting the Étoile, a planning feature intended to free the Place itself from the crush of carriages that might be expected where so many stylish tenants lived so closely together. Haussmann imposed a uniform design on the house fronts with small gardens at the back giving on to this circular road. Haussmann's memoirs publicly noted that the official façade design, from Hittorff in his own office, was so poor that he had to mask the fronts with trees. But the uniformity complements the Arc's monumental presence. The traffic problem was not resolved, however.

Related Topics:
Baron Haussmann - 1860s - Hittorff

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The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off, on the day, it is said, that the Battle of Verdun began in 1916. The relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations.

Related Topics:
Battle of Verdun - 1916

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Famous victory marches past the Arc included the Germans in 1871, the French in 1918, the Germans in 1940, and the French and Allies in 1944 and 1945. Charles de Gaulle survived an attack upon him at the Arc during a parade.

Related Topics:
1871 - 1918 - 1940 - 1944 - 1945 - Charles de Gaulle

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Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War, interred here on Armistice Day 1920, has the first eternal flame lit in Western Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the year 391. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified, now in both World Wars. France took the example of the United Kingdom's tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. A ceremony is held there every November 11 on the anniversary of the armistice signed between France and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided in November 12, 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on November 10, 1920, and put in its final resting place on January 28, 1921. The slab on top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914-1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for his country 1914-1918").

Related Topics:
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - First World War - Armistice Day - 1920 - Eternal flame - Vestal Virgin - 391 - United Kingdom - The Unknown Warrior - Westminster Abbey - November 11 - Armistice - 1918 - November 12 - 1919 - Panthéon - November 10 - January 28 - 1921

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The Tour de France race culminates here every year.

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Pedestrian access to the Arc de Triomphe is via an underpass. Metro access is at Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile. From the top there is an excellent view of all of Paris, of the twelve major avenues leading to the Arc and of the exceptionally busy roundabout in which the Arc lies.

Related Topics:
Metro - Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile

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The Arc de Triomphe is seen in the teaser trailer of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. The Arch is destroyed by the Eiffel Tower in '. In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies inside the giant Reptar invention move fast under the arch. In the Godzilla film Destroy All Monsters it is destroyed by Gorosaurus who dug underneath it.

Related Topics:
Steven Spielberg - War of the Worlds - Eiffel Tower - Giant - Invention - Godzilla - Destroy All Monsters - Gorosaurus

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A smaller, highly detailed replica of the Arc was constructed at the Paris Las Vegas resort.

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